Physician’s Failure To Communicate Lab Results Leads To Delayed Cancer Treatment

The test was ordered but the results were never communicated to the patient. Because he never heard from the physician’s office, the patient assumed that the test had come back normal. The patient came back a year later for another screening and the results came back well above 4.0 ng/mL. It was later discovered that the patient’s original lab results were high enough to warrant a biopsy 12 months earlier. The physician’s office alleged that the results were never sent to their office. The patient’s health rapidly deteriorated and he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. The patient died within 19 months of receiving his diagnosis.

Question(s) For Expert Witness

What is the standard of care regarding documentation of lab orders ordered on a patient?

What is a doctor's duty to follow up on labs orders when they are not received?

What is the standard of care to report abnormal PSA results to patients?

What is the standard of care to advise a patient with an abnormal PSA on treatment options?

Expert Witness Response E-074812

Most primary care organizations now recommend against routine PSA testing. If a test is performed, it should only be after a discussion about potential harms and very few, if any, benefits. Abnormal test results of any kind should be communicated to a patient in a timely fashion. Any lab tests ordered that do not arrive in the office should be traced. Office procedures should be in place to ensure both occur. It is not an adequate defense to say that the lab test was not received in the office. I was an expert witness for a case in which the primary care doctor did not conduct PSA testing on a patient who was later diagnosed with prostate cancer. The problem for this doctor was that he ordered the PSA test in the first place and then did not act on the results. This error gave the appearance of having led to the patient's advanced prostate cancer while in truth, screening was unlikely to have affected this outcome and should not have been done, to begin with.